1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to an apparatus to support a taxidermied game body, such as, for example, the head of a large animal that is mounted and/or reproduced in a manner suitable for display. This application relates to a method to display a taxidermied body.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Taxidermy is the art of mounting skins and/or the head of an animal so that it has a lifelike appearance, or the act of mounting or reproducing a portion of a dead animal, especially game, to facilitate display or study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, but is most applied to mammals such as, for example, deer, antelope, caribou, bighorn sheep, rams, longhorns, bulls, wildebeest, bison, buffalo, elk, moose, cougar, bear and others.
Some animals may be very large, and the taxidermied portion of the animal may weigh 200 pounds (90.0 kg) or more, thereby making the display of the taxidermied body very difficult and making mounting of the taxidermied body on a wall potentially hazardous. It is desirable to use a hanging apparatus and method that conceals or at least obscures the hanging apparatus so as to focus the observer on the beauty of the taxidermied body without distracting the observer with exposed components of the hanging apparatus. A taxidermied body may engage a support structure, such as a wall, column or board, flush around the entire perimeter of the taxidermied body to completely conceal the hanging apparatus. The hanging apparatus should be resistant to being inadvertently disengaged from, or misaligned on, the support structure when bumped or jarred such as, for example, an earthquake, a violent windstorm or just a clumsy observer.
The hanging apparatus and method should also provide for safe and convenient hanging of the taxidermied body on a support structure. A large body may exceed 200 pounds (90.0 kg) or more, and it may be very difficult to hoist, hold steady and then engage a component on the taxidermied body with a hook, nail or other receiving device on the support structure. Conventional apparatuses such as wall anchors may be difficult to align because the component on the taxidermied body and the receiving device on the support structure may be difficult or impossible to see as the body is moved to the display position. Many hanging apparatuses comprise a small aperture to receive by insertion a hook, peg or other protruding structure, and proper alignment is especially difficult where the taxidermied body is large and/or heavy.
Another problem associated with conventional hanging apparatuses and methods relates to the orientation and positioning of the body once it is hung on the support structure. Taxidermied bodies are, by their nature, asymmetrical because they are portions of a beast that have been treated, conditioned and mounted. Also, a well-taxidermied body may provide a tilt or rotation of the head to present a natural pose of the animal for enhanced beauty. Such lifelike positions may introduce to the taxidermied body a center of mass that, when acted upon by gravity, will cause the body to rotate from a desired display position. For these reasons, it may be difficult for the taxidermist to attach a component of a hanging device to the taxidermied body in perfect alignment with the center of gravity of the taxidermied body because there is no means of determining the exact center of gravity or of marking the exact center of gravity were it to be determinable. As a result, it may be very difficult to determine if the component of the hanging apparatus is properly aligned with the center o gravity of a taxidermied body until the taxidermied body is displayed on a support structure and viewed from a distance.
What is needed is a game hanging apparatus for hanging a taxidermied body that requires less than an exacting alignment of a component of an apparatus secured to the taxidermied body with the center of gravity of the taxidermied body. What is needed is a game hanging apparatus that can accommodate a natural pose of taxidermied body and still maintain and support the taxidermied body on a support structure and in an attractive orientation relative to the support structure. What is needed is a game hanging device that facilitates adjustment to the orientation and position of the taxidermied body while substantially reducing the possibility of the taxidermied body falling on the person hanging and/or adjusting the taxidermied body for display. What is needed is a method to hang a heavy and/or large taxidermied body on a support structure and one that permits adjustment of the orientation and position of the taxidermied body without disengaging the taxidermied body from the support structure.